The present invention relates generally to medication dispensing systems, and more particularly to a medication dispensing system wherein the patient is prompted by a communicator device carried on his person, and acknowledges receipt of the prompt by sending a reply message to a central monitoring office. An emergency notification procedure is initiated in the event the reply message is not received within a predetermined period of time following the prompt.
In the dispensing of medication a primary problem has been recognized in prompting a patient to take a prescribed dose of medication at prescribed times. Patients are often preoccupied with other matters and may forget at the prescribed time. In the case of some geriatric patients, a loss of mental acuity may cause a lapse of memory or an extended period of forgetfulness, resulting in no medication or the wrong medication being taken.
Various apparatus have been developed for prompting a patient in bed to take medication, including medication dispensers incorporating a timer and programmable alarm and/or dispensing means operable from the timer.
Past devices for dispensing medications have included automated dispensers. An example of one such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,810, issued Aug. 16, 1988 which describes a motor-driven, tamper-proof automated medication dispenser. This automated dispenser has multiple compartments each holding a single dose of medication and linked to a programmable clock circuit. A motorized delivery system is controlled by the clock circuit to remove a doze of medication from specific compartments. This automated dispensing device further includes an audio and visual alarm which notifies the patient that a dose of medication is ready for taking. However, it does not have any means for monitoring whether the patient has actually removed the medication dose from the dispenser and further does not have any means of monitoring whether the patient has actually followed his/her medication protocol and taken the appropriate medication.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,801, issued Sep. 23, 1980, describes an automated medication dispenser which is equipped with an alarm for alerting a patient when medication is to be taken. A remote control automated alarm generates an alarm signal upon reception of a paging signal by the dispenser indicating that it is time to take medication, the signal being terminated when the medication is removed form the dispenser. Although this dispenser can be activated remotely by a third party, it only alerts the patient that it is time to take medication and has no provision for confirming that the patient has or has not taken the medication.
These prior art devices do not permit monitoring of a dispensing schedule at a remote location, nor do they remind a patient away from the dispenser that it is the time to take medication. A need therefore exists for an automated medication dispensing system which alerts a patient in the course of his daily activities to take specific medication and which confirms that the patient has taken the medication, whereby the medication schedule of the patient can be monitored at a control monitoring office.
The present invention meets this need by providing a medication dispensing system in which a communicator sounds an alarm and provides a display according to a preassigned medication dispensing schedule. The patient confirms the prompt by actuating a transmitter, which generates a signal which is received at the monitoring office.
Each patient communicator includes a date and time clock circuit, which accurately reflects current date and time. In addition, each communicator includes sufficient memory to store the medication schedule of the patient. This is periodically accessed according to the date and time signaled by the clock circuit to cause a prompt signal to be generated as each medication event of the schedule is to occur. This prompt is displayed to the patient and an audible alarm is sounded.
The medication dispensing schedule is transferred into the communicator memory through a data port, which may be connected to a computer terminal at the pharmacy where the prescription is filled, or may be connected to the monitoring computer at the central monitoring facility, which in turn receives the medication schedule from the pharmacist.
Thus, the present invention preferably includes a communicator consisting of a two-way personal receiver and transmitter which is carried by the patient which can receive and decode prompt signals transmitted from a monitoring center, but ordinarily utilizes an internal time and day clock circuit and stored medication schedule to advise the patient that it is time to take medication in accordance with the preassigned schedule, and transmits a reply signal to the dispensing control center indicating that the prompt has been acknowledged.
Also, the dispensing apparatus may be provided with a telephone modem whereby actual operation of the apparatus can be monitored at the central computer and whereby the apparatus can be controlled by the central computer in the event of paging system failure.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved medication dispensing system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a wireless medication dispensing system in which a patient is alerted according to a prescribed medication dispensing schedule.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a medication dispensing system having a patient communicator responsive to time signals generated by an internal clock in which the patient is alerted in accordance with a predetermined medication schedule, and in which a confirmation that the patient has acknowledged the prompt is transmitted back to the monitoring office, and in which an alarm is sounded when the patient has not acknowledged the prompt within a predetermined period of time following the prompt.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide an improved medication dispensing system wherein a two-way paging system includes a patient communicator device having an internal timer and stored medication schedule to provide a prompt to a patient so the patient takes medication in accordance with a preestablished dosage and timing schedule. The schedule may be conveyed to the monitoring office by a pharmacist or other entity licensed to dispense medication by means of a computer terminal and telephone line connection or the like. When the pager is activated by the patient, the dispenser generates a confirmation signal which is sent to the monitoring center to confirm that the prompt has been received by the patient. An alarm signal is generated by the monitoring center when an acknowledgment is not received from the pager within a predetermined time frame following receipt of a dispensing command signal.